Wire-nail machine.



J. H. FRANCIS.

WIRE NAIL MACHINE.

APPLIUATION FILED APR. 15, 190s.

979,45*?. Patented Beaz?, 1910.

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J. H. FRANCIS.

WIRE NAIL MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED APE.15, 1908.

@9,45% Patented 1560.211910.

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UNITE @TAS P FNT JOHN H. FRANCIS, 0F CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THEKILBY MANUFACTURING COMPANY, CF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

WIRE-NAIL MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dee. 2?, 19M).

Application i'led April 15, 1908. Serial No. 427,177.

To alt yw/wm t may concern:

Be it known that I, Jol-IN H. FRANois, a citizen of the United States,residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in VVire-Nail Machines, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exact description, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to machines for making wire nails and has for itsobject to improve the operation of the feeding mechanism whereby t-hewire is advanced toward the anvil and particularly to the arrangementand construction of such mechanism whereby the feeding movement of thewire will positively cease at a certain point before the engagement ofthe cutters therewith, not-withstanding the fact that the machine isbeing operated at high speed.

In various other machines of this type with which I am acquainted, thatis, machines wherein a crank is employed to operate t-he feedingmechanism, the parts have been so constructed that the wire was fed oradvanced by the rearward movement of the crank and released by trippingthe gripping mechanism before the crank reached its rear center. l/Vhenthe machines thus constructed were running at high speed, there wasirregularity in the lengths of the nails, due to inability to releasethe wire at the same point of the stroke. By my construction andarrangement of parts, the wire is released always at the same point andis advanced and released within an angular movement of l5() degrees orless of the drive or crank shaft from its front center, thereby insuringuniformity in the lengths of the nails and preventing the cutting knivesfrom engaging the wire until after its forward movement has beencompleted. I accomplish these results by means of comparatively simpleand inexpensive mechanism which will be described hereinafter.

Generally speaking, the invention may be defined as consisting of thecombinations of elements embodied in the claims hereto anneXed andillustrated in the drawings forming part hereof, wherein- Figure lrepresents a plan view of a machine having' my invention appliedthereto; Fig. 2 represents an enlarged plan view of my mechanism and ofthe co-acting parts of the machine; Fig. 3 represents a side elevationof the construction illust-rated in Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 represents asomewhat diagrammatic view illustrating the movements of the feedingmechanism by the rotation of the crank shaft.

Referring to the drawings by reference characters, l denotes the bedplate of a wirenail machine, the same being supported by means ofbrackets 2.

3 denotes the anvil block having a longitudinal aperture l therethroughfor the passage of the wire. The anvil block is provided in the rearface thereof with a die block 5 carrying the holding dies 6 and 7.Holding die 7 has a pair of operating rods 3 and 9 connected thereto,the former havmg its outer end operatively engaged by a screw l0extending through the forwardly projecting arm of an angle lever l1mounted on a vertical pivot l2. Rod 9 extends across the said arm oflever ll and has a screw 13 threaded therethrough and bearing againstthe outer face of such lever arm. The inwardly projecting arm l]a oflever ll is connected to a rock shaft 14 by means of a connecting rodl5. lll denotes a rearward extension of lever ll which is engaged by aspring 16 tending to force the front end of said lever outwardly. Rockshaft 14 is mounted in suitable bearings in brackets 17 and is providedwith a rearwardly projecting rock arm 18 having at the rear end thereofa fork for the reception of a roller 19 which rests upon a cam 2Ocarried by' the main shaft 21. This shaft is provided with a suitabledrive pulley 22 at one end thereof and with a fly wheel 23 at theopposite end thereof and is mounted in suitable bearings carried by bedplate l. Near the middle portion thereof, shaft 2l is provided with areciprocating device, preferably a center crank 24, which is connectedby a suitable pitman 25 with the hammer stock 26. This stock is providedat the front end with the heading punch 27 and intermediate of its endswith oppositely-projecting lateral lugs 28 each having a roller 29therein adapted to engage the inwardly curved rear ends of the cuttinglevers 30. These levers are mounted on vertical pivots 3l and are eachprovided with an adjustable cutter 32.

In front of anvil block 3 there is mounted position shown in Fig.

the feed block 33. This block is mounted on an inwardly projecting arm34 and comprises a pair of vertical rollers 35 each mounted upon arearwardly and outwardly inclined surface 3G. The wire is grippedbetween the rollers and a flat plate 3T, the arrangement being suchthat, as the feed block moves toward the anvil block. the wire will begripped by reason of the rollers moving inwardly on the inclinedsurfaces 36 and will be released when such movement of the feed block isreversed by the movement of the rollers outwardly on said inclinedsurfaces. Arm 34 is mounted on a block 3S which is longitudinallyslidable upon bed plate l.

For the purpose of operating the feed block, l provide the followingconstruction: 39 denotes a transversely extending rock shaft which maybe mounted in bearings on bed plate l. This shaft projects inwardlybeyond the hammer stock 26 and is provided, beneath said hammer stock,with a rearwardly projecting lever arm 4() rigid therewith. This arm isflexibly connected with hammer stock 26 by means of a link 4l which ispivotally connected at one end to a pair of downwardly projecting lugs42 on the hammer stock and at its opposite end to the rearwardlyprojecting end of lever arm 40. At its outer end, shaft 39 is providedwith an upwardly projecting lever arm 43 which is connected to arm 34 bymeans of a link rod 44. ln order to vary the eect of lever arm 48 on thefeed block and thereby accommodate the feeding mechanism to variouslengths of nails, the rear end of link rod 44 is connected to arm 48 bymeans of a sliding` block 45 mounted in a vertically extending guideway46 in arm 43, said block being provided with an adjusting screw 4Twhereby its position in the said guideway may be varied.

In the full-line position illustrated in Fig. 4, the parts are shown inthe positions which they occupy when crank Q4 is at or near its foremostposition. In 2 and 8, the parts are shown in the positions which theyoccupy when the crank is in front of its shaft but not atits frontcenter.

lVith the parts arranged and constructed as described thus far, it willbe apparent that, as the crank moves from the rear center to the frontcenter, the hammer 26 will be moved forward and the heading punch willhead the wire which has been fed through the holding dies 6 and 7, therotation of shaft 2l causing the die-pushing rod 8 to force die 7inwardly and grip the wire firmly against the opposing die 6 before theengagement of the punch with the wire. The reverse movement of the shaftcauses link 4l to pass from the forwardly inclined 4 to thesubstantially vertical position shown in dotted lines in said figure,rocking shaft 39 and moving the feed block 33 rearwardly. By the arrangement to be described more particularly hereinafter, this feedingmovement ceases before the cutters 32 are forced against the wire by theengagement of rollers 29 with lever arm 30. Meanwhile, the elevated partof cam 2O has moved from beneath roller 19, and spring 1G has moved thefront end of lever ll outwardly, thereby pulling the holdi ing dieoutwardly through rod 9 and permitting the feeding of the wire by thefeed block. At the end of the rearward stroke of the hammer stock, whenthe crank 2l reaches its rear center, rollers 29 force the rear ends ofthe levers 30 outwardly, causing the cutters 32 to sever the headed wirewhich has been fed through the anvil block.

The manner in which the feeding of the wire is suspended a sufficienttime before crank shaft 24 reaches its rear center to prevent anymovement of the wire after the engagement of the cutters therewith willnow be explained with particular reference to Fig. 4. In this view, thefull lines indicate the positions assumed by the parts when the crankshaft is on its forward center and the dotted lines the center lines ofthe pitman, lever arms 40, 43 and link 41. Then crank shaft 2l is on itsforward cen ter, link 4l makes a considerable angle with a vertical linepassing through its point of connection with arm 40 and arm 43 alsomakes an appreciable angle with a vertical line drawn through its rockshaft 89. `When the crank is on its rear center, arm 40 is in theposition shown by the dot-ted line c, arm 43 is in the posit-ion shownby dotted line b and link 4l is in the position shown by dotted line c,which forms a very slight rearward angle with a vertical line clextending upwardly from the rear end of arm 40. Line e is a line whichextends upwardly and forwardly from the rear end of line a and forms anangle with line Z equal to the angle formed by line c. The distancebetween lines c and e along the line which extends rearwardly from theupper pivot of 4l represents the distance traveled by said upper pivotwhile the crank is traversing the angular distance between lines f andg. These lilies make an angle of about degrees each with the line ofmovement of the hammer stock. Owing to the length of link 4l, when saidlink is near the rear end of its stroke the link extends atsubstantially right angles to the throw of the operating member for thesame; that is to say, at substantially right angles to a line defined bythe extreme forward and rearward positions of the operating member. lnthe exemplification of the invention shown herein, the crank is theoperating member and the link 4l is in this position when in a near/lyvertical line with its lower pivot and, when in such position, theoscillation of the arm 40 and arm 43 while the link 41 is oscillatingbetween a and c is negligible. In fact, such oscillation will be easilycompensated for by the lost motion between the parts and the lines a andb represent the positions maintained by arms 40 and 43 respectivelywhile link 41 is moving` between e and c. The result is that therearward movement of arm 43 and consequently the rearward or feedingmovement of the feed block is suspended for a material interval of timeboth before and after the crank passes its rear center, affording ampleopportunity for the cutting of the ends of the wire by the cutters afterthe cessation of the feeding movement of the wire, no matter at how higha speed the machine may be operated.

As will appear from F 4, arms 40 and 43 are at nearly right angles toeach other, the angle therebetween being about 96 degrecs, which I havefound, with the other parts arranged as shown, will secure the resultsdescribed herein.

I claim:

1. In a machine of the character set forth, the combination of a feedblock, a shaft, a member connected with said shaft and movable therebytoward and from said feed block, a rock shaft having a pair of arms, aconnection between one of the arms of said rock shaft and the feedblock, and a link connecting the movable member with the other arm ofsaid rock shaft, the parts being arranged so that said link is in asubstantially vertical position when said movable member is at or nearone end of its stroke.

2. In a machine of the character set forth, the combination of a shaft,a feed device, and connections between said shaft and said device, saidconnections comprising` a member connected to the shaft to bereciprocated thereby, a bell crank lever having one arm extendingsubstantially parallel with the direction of movement of said member andhaving its other arm extending at substantially right angles to theother arm, a link connecting the other arm to said member, and a linkconnecting the latter arm to the feed device.

3. In a machine of the character set forth, the combination of an anvilblock, a shaft, a feed block, and connections between said shaft andsaid feed block, said connections comprising a member connected with theshaft and reciprocable toward and from the anvil block, a rock shafthaving thereon a pair of arms arranged at substantially right angles toeach other, one of said arms being substantially parallel with thedirection of movement of said member, a link connected with the latterarm and with the movable member and arranged to be in a position atsubstantially right angles to the direct-ion of movement of said memberwhen said member` is in its most remote position from the anvil block,and aI connection between the other arm of said lever and the feedblock.

4. In a machine of the character set forth, the combination of an anvilblock, a feed block on one side of said anvil block, a shaft on theother side of said anvil block, a member connected with said shaft andreciprocable thereby in a horizontal direction toward and from the anvilblock, a rock shaft having' a pair of arms connected thereto andextending at substantially right angles therefrom, one of said armsprojecting rearwardly from said shaft and being substantially parallelwith the direction of movement of said member and the other armextending in a vertical direction from said shaft, a link connecting theformer arm to the movable member and arranged to be brought to avertical position at a material period of time before the member is atits most remote position from the anvil block, and a connection betweenthe other arm and the feed block.

5. In a machine of the character set forth, the combination of an anvilblock, a feed block on one side of said anvil block, a crank shaft onthe other side of said anvil block, a member connected with saidcrank-shaft and reciprocable in a horizontal direction toward and fromthe anvil block, a rock shaft having a pair of arms connected theretoand extending at substantially right angles therefrom, one of said armsprojecting rearwardly from said shaft and being substantially parallelwith the direction of movement of said member and the other armextending in a vertical direction from said shaft, a link connecting theformer arm to the movable member and arranged to be brought to avertical position at a material period of time before the crank shaftpasses the center remote from said anvil block, and a verticallyadjustable connection between the vertical arm. and the feed block.

6. In a machine of the character set forth, the combination of a feedingdevice, a shaft, a member connected with said shaft and movable therebyin a generally horizontal direction toward and from the feeding device,a rock shaft having a pair of arms, a connection between one of the armsof said rock shaft and the feeding device, a link connecting the movablemember with the other arm of said shaft, the parts being arranged sothat said link is in a substantially vertical position when the movablemember is at or near one end of its stroke, cutters operated by themovement of said shaft, and connections whereby said cutters areoperated to sever the wire after the link has reached a substantiallyvertical position.

7. In a machine of the character set forth, the combination of a feedingdevice, a shaft,

a member connected with said shaft and movable thereby in va horizontaldirection toward and from said feeding device, a rock shaft having apair of arms, a connection between one of the arms of said rock shaftand the feeding device, a -link connecting the movable member with theother larm of said rock shaft, the vparts being arranged so that thelink is in a substantially vertical position when said lmovable memberis at or -near one end of its stroke, a cutting device, and connectionswhereby saidl cutting device will be operated by the movable member -tosever the wire after the said link has reached a substantially verticalposition. Y

8. In a machine of the character set'forth, the combination of a feedblock, a main shaft, an operating member movable by the rotation of saidmain shaft toward and from the feed block, a vmember connected to saidoperating member and reciprocable thereby, a yrock shaft having a pairof arms, a connection between one of said arms and the feed block, and alink connecting the second member with the other arm of said rock shaft,the parts being varranged so that the link is substantially at rightangles to the throw of the operating member when the latter is at or'nearone end of its stroke.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aiilX my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

JOHN FRANCIS.

Vitnesses J. B. HULL, A. J. SPRINGBORN.

